Correia Middle School 14 Year Old Tasered Twice by Police During Arrest for Theft

A Correia student, 14 years old and under suspicion by police of being in possession of a stolen iPod, was tasered twice by officers as they attempted to arrest him this morning at the school.

School police had been notified of a theft of $5000 worth of iPods and were in the process of questioning several students, when one of them began to resist their efforts to take him into custody. Police had allegedly found one of the stolen iPods on the student and proceeded to arrest him when he fought them. Police tasered the student, he pulled out the taser barb and then they tasered him again for a second time, and arrested him.

NBC reports that “two school police officers had minor knee injuries following the incident. The teenager is facing charges of theft and assault of an officer.”

The school is on Valeta Street in Ocean Beach near Point Loma, and the incident occurred about 9:30 in the morning.

The student was checked out at Rady Children’s Hospital, which is common anytime someone is struck with a Taser.

Officers from the San Diego Police Department and the San Diego Unified School District police were present at the time, but it was not immediately known who used the Taser, said San Diego police Detective Gary Hassen.

From the U-T updated article by Kristina Davis:

The incident unfolded about 9:30 a.m. when the 14-year-old boy was being questioned about the theft of 20 school-owned iPods, valued at $5,000, at the Point Loma Heights school, said San Diego police Capt. Walt Vasquez.

Two officers from the San Diego Police Department and two from the San Diego Unified School District police, as well as the vice principal, were present during the questioning in the school’s library.

The 5-foot-10-inch, 150-pound teen produced two of the stolen iPods during the questioning, at which point an officer informed him he was under arrest, Vasquez said.

However, the boy refused to cooperate, telling the officers, “No, you’re not putting handcuffs on me,” Vasquez said.

The teen was ordered to place his hands behind his back a second time, but he refused. A struggle ensued, and the boy assaulted the officers, police said.

A San Diego police officer deployed the Taser, and the boy pulled the barbs from his skin and began “kicking and thrashing about” again. The stun gun was shot a second time, and officers were able to restrain and arrest him, Vasquez said.

Both school officers suffered injuries to their knees, said school district Sgt. Troy Holliday. One was treated at a hospital and released, while the other declined treatment.

The student, whose name was not released because he is a juvenile, was taken to Rady Children’s Hospital to get checked for injuries. Anytime someone is shot with a Taser, the policy is to have the person checked at a hospital.

The boy had no other wounds besides being struck by the Taser barbs, police said. He was released and booked into Juvenile Hall.

Vasquez said officers have a variety of force options, including the Taser, when someone becomes violent. Other options include impact weapons, punches or pepper spray.

“A lot of times the Taser is effective,” Vasquez said. “It saves a lot of injuries to the officer and saves a lot of injuries to suspects.”

The incident will be reviewed to determine if the officer’s use of force was warranted.

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great. Now, we have children being tased. Who are these pigs in uniform? What happened to the nice cop on the beat? He’s gone; he has been inducted into the neo-fascist govorporation. What, the cops were too fat to chase the kid down? What, they couldn’t get his name & actually meet him at his house when he arrived after escaping the clutches of the pigs. Time to complan again, is it not? These pigs have no bounds, no restrictions.

Wrong, as usual, it’s goes something like this, the cops are breaking the law so the focus is correct. We don’t need cops on any campus, certainly not at the U.C. campuses of higher learning. Will the bright ones ever learn to see law enforcement (on the streets or campuses) for what they are? The armed might of the state. Property is kingshit. Let’s not forget about the computer…maybe it was in danger.
They don’t need to taser or handcuff kids, juveniles. This is all part of show of force, fear us, we’re the boss. We will taser you and claim it’s to protect buffed up goons. Minor injuries? What a hoax. Reactionaries, like all cops, react. That is exactly what they are paid for…..look at the ((((peaceful)))) thousands of Occupy folks. Shoot them, taser them, beat them, pepper them……Hey, I’m just a Viet Nam veteran, you/we all know where this is heading, yes? Think. We know who the criminals are and our first thoughts ain’t about pig welfare. And, I already know the assholes at (their) homeland read all our comments. My favorite, enforcers, these days, other than New Orleans, Philly, Chicago, nypd uniforms is arpaio, hope he lives long enough to face our justice. The kid was right to fight back—that’s what we need more of. Why? Because we don’t have human laws or enforcement to protect us……how difficult is that to comprehend even on their world media aimed at us to create fear and prevent solidarity. It’s not working……that’s the beginning for our ending any need for cops.

“The teen was ordered to place his hands behind his back a second time, but he refused. A struggle ensued, and the boy assaulted the officers, police said.”

A lot of details left out of these statements. Did I miss something about witnesses? Were there any? The “police said,” now someone please find out what actually happened.

And if the teen assualted two police officers, something seems a little odd. It sounds like a super strong 14-year-old kid that subdued two cops in not so great shape and take-down skills for uncooperative suspects (or lazy, maybe easier to use the Taser?) I thought police officers were required to maintain a certain physical strength and skill for subduing a problem suspect.

Knowing that the police can tell lies (legally) when interrogating a suspect, and the suspect must always tell the truth or suffer the consequences, how is the end result credible?

There were plenty of witnesses to this even, it was mentioned that the vice principal was there as well. Kind of hard to lie with all those witnesses, don’t you think? Not sure why folks are so hard on the cops. They are doing their job and the kid produced two of the stolen articles. He chose to disobey and chose to struggle. Concequences follow actions and they certainly did with this kid.

I understand your and our ambivalence about cops. However, I have been out of nursing for quite awhile now after having good working relationships with them. Also, if you are stopped and if you are just coming or going to your shift, and if you have your nurse stuff on, scrubs, etc., you will never get a ticket. Even as recently as last June I had a major breakdown with my truck on my way back to SD from Yuma. I had to have it towed back to SD and the guy had already done the repairs at almost $1400 dollars. However, I tried to negotiate with him about the payments but he wouldn’t budge. One day when I was in the area I saw that my truck was parked on the street. (His idea of “free storage,” the truck registered as non-use with DMV and no insurance coverage.) I called the police and the policewoman who answered the phone said “you own the truck, don’t you? Yes. Well, give us a call when you go to pick it up.” I felt totally blessed, being without my truck for so long even though there is public transportation.

But I must tell you, after seeing a couple of very violent, malevolent photos of cops at CC that appeared to be steriod users with hate in their eyes charging to subdue the protestors, it makes me pretty nervous for them to get too close to me. Do you think the kid might have been seeking some kind of negotiation when he apparently volunteered the Ipads?

No, I think the kid got caught and has always had his way in every thing. Of course he didn’t want to get arrested or have cuffs put on him, so he struggles. You don’t struggle with the police! You submit and if you’re innocent it will come out in the end. My husband has been up against a squad car misidentified as a robber. He did everythink he was told and was fine. If he’d struggled he would have been in trouble. As far as malevolent cops, I know they are out there, but there are certainly and unfortunately more violent criminals that exist. I’m much more worried about those with no respect for the law.

Can someone tell my why school districts need to have their own police departments in the first place? Honest question. Not trying to troll. It seems like with current school budgets, cost savings could be realized by using an already existing police force.

I would love to have campus police at my children’s school! Case in point, my son is only 13, yet he’s six feet tall and about 190 lbs.! Whose gonna help that little 90 lb. kid if someone my son’s size decides to rough him up? Not you, I suspect. Police and campus security are there to help maintain law and order. Ya, they mess up sometimes, but by and large they do their job. What do you do?

You make a very good point. Maybe they could keep them there if millions were not spent on controlling peaceful protestors. I don’t know what the answer is either. But I will not give up trying to stay in there and get heard.

I love how America has turned into an over sensitive bunch of Care Bears. Out of all of the students questioned, which all of them were, one student was tased. I’m sure many of the students were completely cooperative, but did they get tased? NO! This punk was guilty of steaking over $5,000 in electronics from his fellow students. That’s a felony. You know what else is considered a felony? Grand Theft Auto, Rape, and Man Slaughter. Yeah yeah yeah, I know you really can’t compare stealing “a couple” iPods to raping someone, but you can say that it’s a felony. Trial this “kid” as a adult and call it a day. Stop crying about him being tased, he more than likely deserved it.

“Oversensitive bunch of Care Bears. ” I kind of don’t agree. But I agree, there are a lot of ugly, mean people out there. Try the kind at Pelican Bay. I do not condone what crimes they commit, but I do believe that as police who are sworn to uphold the law, they should present themselves as well as they can in their very difficult duties of dealing with some pretty horrible events. Like the cop just sitting in his patrol car that was shot and killed. As I said before, my feelings towards cops are very ambivalent. Times have changed a lot, and a lot of these changes are not good. I remember the time when I was still with the California Nurses Association. We were at a rally protesting patient care issues at the Department of Labor in Chicago. About 15 nurses sat down in the middle of the street prepared purposefully to get arrested. The paddy wagon was called. Out came the plastic handcuffs. However, the rep from the CNA

Also, didn’t understand “he more than likely deserved it.” Did you mean he deserved being tased, or being arrested? Obviously, he had the stolen iPods with him. It is not a question of his deserving it, he simply broke the law and the law calls for an arrest for such a crime.

“However the rep from the CNA” and the Chicago police rep got together. “My wife is a nurse, I am in the Union.” The cops then gathered up the plastic cuffs, got back into their paddy wagon and drove off, much to the disappointment of the nurses. But times have definetly changed. The mayor of Chicago is a card carrying ………. comparable to “Jerry.” How did the 1% get such a hold in such a short time as maybe 10 years?

Another great day for San Diego Police!!! Always over kill. I don’t believe this type of police brutality benefits anyone least of all the child……He is 14 he may be tall but should not be treated as an adult as it only escalates the situation……. Grow up cops, Treat kids as kids and adults as adults.. This boys life could be destroyed probably do jail time have to leave school branded a major felon. He did a bad thing but young people– teens do not think as adults. Yes they must face up to what they have done but not in this life changing way it can turn them so easily against society and the law.

I thought I was reading satire
The police academy needs to be analyzed and presented ideas of restructuring by widescale intelligent people with no desire to harm a fly in. Perhaps we should hire the japanese to help us. I had read somewhere that the japanese military was defense only. When not busy defending themselves, the soldiers are seen carving ice sculptures around the city. I had no clue any type of military COULD exsist like that. We really need an outside perspective to hault this unecesary violence. The academy is severely lacking knowledge which promotes cheap easy violence that the popultion seems to be ok with for the sake of the safeguard of advanced technology. Now I know to protect myself with plyers when the darts dance deceptive desicions.
I wish this was satire.

This is hardly the first time members of San Diego law enforcement agencies have used what seems to this average citizen to be a good deal more force than the reported situation seemed to require.
A teenager, even a big one, is still a kid in his head, and this kid (all of 14), realizing he was caught, must have been scared. Something like, “Oh fuck! I’m screwed! I gotta get out of this.” Whatever he thought, he made a poor choice; resist. Of course, this is a mistake, an error, a decision not in keeping with the tenets of good citizenship. It isn’t even enlightened self-interest. This is an option than typically leads quite quickly to pain and incarceration.
Anyway, “officers,” in this case four, were questioning a 150 pound 14 year old boy in the school library in the presence of the vice-principal. Meaning, five adult males armed with tasers (and pistols? clubs? radios? a suit and tie) confront a kid armed with an iPod and have no alternative but to resort to force. Aren’t school administrators supposed to have good people skills? Are you telling me two trained adult SDPD officers (how much per year?) and two school cops (also presumed to be adults, and, possibly, trained) (how much per year?), and the school vice principal (how much per year?) were incapable of capturing a kid in a library without tasing him? Fire them all! Why were they reduced to force? Are they too stupid to be able to manage the situation without force? Cops, one thing. School administrator, should be able to think.
Many years ago, the not yet 20 year old son of a person I knew made the mistake of challenging an experienced SDPD officer in Ocean Beach, who shot him dead. The young man was armed with nunchucks, the officer with, I believe, a .38. Sure, in the hands of a skilled practitioner, and within a few feet, nunchucks can subdue, possibly kill. Once subduded, of course, death is easily induced. However, pistols are better at subduing and killing than nunchucks and can be used by even untrained novices over comparatively long distances. Advantage cop.
Then, there was the tank guy. Remember him? Stole a tank out of the National Guard parking lot (What’s their motto? Anyway, I’m comforted knowing these vigilant souls are still protecting me.) and drove it down to the median on 163 in Mission Valley careening through intersections and stoplights and over RVs as he went. Yeah, he did a lot of property damage, but didn’t actually hurt anyone. He was shot to death inside the tank as it sat immovably hung up on the median. I don’t recall whether he was given the opportunity to give up, but I think he was unarmed. Advantage cop.
How about the homeless guy waving a branch around in front of McDonald’s on Midway? Remember him? Shot to death? In full daylight? With more than one cop on hand? For a branch and abberant behavior? Advantage cop. Nice job. That’s what I call public service.
And the other off duty Coronado cop who chased down the Charger in a SD city neighborhood, and shot him because he got out of his car.
So now, this kid. Okay, big 14-year-old. Wow! Way to go MEN! Got that punk. And, they didn’t even have to resort to deadly force. Kudos.
Are we not regularly assured that we are protected by the finest police in the finest city? All I can say is that these cops are not very god damned good for being the finest in the finest. If this is the finest, then the crappiest must be a truly ignorant, unfeeling and brutal lot.
I assume the Police Department will issue a press release soon assuring concerned citizens, like me, that the officers acted in accordance with department policies. I’ll be glad to know that all’s well.
Must they just smite? WTF?! Is that the society I want? Take a guess. What about you?

assaulting an officer with nunchucks? Officers didn’t have tazers or even pepper spray back then if he was weilding a .38. You bet he’s going to shoot the assailant.

unarmed driver of a battle tank? re-read that one more time to yourself. None of those officers knew how many if any people were killed in the crushed vehicles that the tank rolled over while going down the public streets. Watch the video and you’ll see people escaping from their vehicles seconds before it was crushed like a beer can. The police officer opening that hatch and pointing his weapon can wait for the mentally unstable Tank commander to draw a weapon and fire on him, or he can shoot when he sees the man reaching for something.

Giant teen who calls himself “Big Eddie” assaults police officers. He’s lucky he got tazzed. All of you people shouting police brutality, would you rather have him beaten down with clubs? or pepper sprayed? Police who are carrying fire arms DO NOT wrestle and grapple with ANYONE if they can at all avoid it. Not because they are fat and lazy, but because they are carrying a firearm that could be taken from them in a fight and used against them or others.

The teen made a bad choice when he stole the ipods (allegedly) resisting arrest could be chalked up to paniked desperation, but ANYONE who assaults a police officer, has gone beyond being an misunderstood victim of circumstance. My kid goes to that school and I’m well aware of the necessity for campus police and for the necessity of non-lethal force if it can be applied. Those cops don’t know if Eddie has been training in Muay-Thai or Tae-kwon-do for the last 8 years at one of the many local martial arts studios. If he had been, don’t doubt for a second that a kid his size could have taken a weapon from one of those officers with ease if it came to hand to hand combat. How different a tune everyone would be crying when Big Eddy goes on a shooting spree through Correia Middle with a gun he took from a police officer.

As an educator, parent and child advocate, I understand the need to comply with the law I am not condoning child prostitution nor adolescent violence towards police. No I am advocating a great need for change as we appear to have an out of control situation that has arisen. As a British subject, still today in the Uk officers do not carry weapons!!! Just their battons!!! Of course that would be imposssible in the US. just because it’s a different society. However the problem is major, we need to address violence anger and bullying in schools. Schools are a always a reflection of the outside world and unfortunately at very young ages kids are exposed to adult situations through the media, drugs alcohol and often abuse. I worked pro-actively in schools in the Uk as a learning mentor and we addressed these issuues through issue based project work so that young people could explore their feelings, situations and rea -actions in a safe environment. We need to observe the loner in school the kid who always looks sad, the angry kid, the happy kid we need to be able to know the young people we work with. We understand that not all kids are coming in from a good healthy learning environment .A lot of families are impoversished, kids have no place for home work or time. This is not an excuse for violence but we have to be pro-active and work at grass root level –now before it’s too late. As Learnig Mentors in England we strive to change kids attitudes, working hands on observing on the play yard in the classroom in the canteen, we visited families in their homes whose child was having difficulties with for example truancy, bullying, being bullied, if they need help with uniforms or to fill out free lunch applications.. We worked closely with outside agencies such as social services and the police. We need to come together as a community to support each other and not be reactionary. I am so passionate and feel the fear that police go through on a daily basis here. They are not adequately trained to deal with teens. It’s a scientific fact that young people think differntly and react differntly to adults. Their brains are still developing, they view the world through different eyes. The juvenile system must change. We need to do the work before kids end up as criminals and in the sytem ……Should I go on I apologise but youknow us Brits. when we get started ,thanks if you read this

Mark,
Paragraph 1: So, in your world holding a non-lethal object at some distance from an armed, trained, experienced officer of the law during a confrontation constitutes grounds for summary execution?
Paragraph 2: People who escape aren’t dead. Vehicles and lamp posts aren’t humans. In a situation as you allude to, of course, almost any person might fire, but your allusion is very little like the situation that existed in the tank. So, hardly applicable.
Paragraph 3: Giant? 150 pounds? Not a giant. Who cares what he calls himself? Call me Darth. Are you saying that because law enforcement personnel carry weapons, it is not sensible for them, from a personal safety perspective, not to use them? I didn’t describe the morphology of the officers. I didn’t say the suspect was a “misunderstood victim of circumstances.” I have not condoned his actions.
Paragraph 4: We agree. The kid put himself in a position which we, adults that we are, can see was a mistake. We agree he broke the law.
Your comment about the possibility that a well trained youth “could” disarm and murder not only all five of the adult males in the library, but he “could” then go on a shooting spree in a school your child attends. A nightmare for almost any parent. God forbid. However, just considering the scenario, he wouldn’t have had many rounds left (I guess, four at most) after murdering the men in the library, unless, of course, all four officers wore side arms, but in that case it seems unlikely the teen could manage to kill all before being killed himself (3 to 1- advantage authority).
Still, by raising such a possibility you intimate that our police officers can be handled with relative ease in physical confrontations. Is that so? I’ll agree that most officers are not intimidating hulks, though there are some. Even so, they are trained and drilled and exercised and taught all these things, are they not? Are they not prepared psychologically and well as physically to control citizens. If so, and they still are in danger of being beaten up by a 150-pound teen, then a severe disconnect exists and the explanation for it is not evident to me. What do we need? More weapons? A clearly improbable “could be” seems to be your main reason to shoot first.
Having a child enrolled at the school means you are close to the situation. I am far away from it, but I know it; my girl took swimming lessons at the Y down the street. You must be aware of a great deal more context than I am privy to. Is this suspect a well-known bully, a thug, a gangsta wannabe? I have no idea. Whatever he is, though, he is not actually self-made, you know. He had parents and a society, a culture to be his guides.
When does a story begin? When does it end? This teen may have defects. Where’d he get them? From his parents? Maybe. Where’d they get the defects? Genes? Please. You put out that power is right and you get back that power is right.
The thing is, my beef isn’t with the kid, for all the flaws and reasons that may be his.
My beef is with a system which is said to exist for the protection, well-being, and security of citizens, and which so often appears in practice to utilize inappropriate levels of violence, to the point of death, when encountering citizens. I’d agree that sometimes, in extraordinary circumstances, making such a choice, even in error, might be considered justifiable. I’ll agree, the guy in the tank wasn’t rational, but he had injured no one, and when killed he was not a threat to anyone.The branch waver was outside social expectations, but he was holding and waving a branch. Com’on!? Justify that. Police shot him to death. And then officials said it was okay. A young fool who fought the law, with blocks and chain; misguided, impetuous, foolish, fatal. Still, do you consider these are justifiable reasons to kill? I do not.
Another attitude I think we do not share is toward the presence of weapons in places we are likely to go. I find armed men and women intimidating. I don’t like it one bit. I am not wholly unfamiliar with weapons, but I don’t like them.
Sure, we can generate scenarios where such a device would be welcome. We could even name existing spots, towns, countries, and situations that we know to exist right now where not to have one could be called foolish, but those “could bes” are not what I am talking about. I am talking about real life in San Diego and what seems to me to be the unnecesary killing of citizens by law enforcement personnel and about the process of legitimization that goes on afterwards. A process that assures everyone that “things are okay.”
In any event, I do not think it is appropriate for law enforcement personnel to be trained to think of themselves as soldiers against crime. That’s part, no doubt, of why they exist. There are bad guys out there doing bad things; some of them have guns, some have lapels. But, if law enforcement sees itself as at war with the citizenry, that’s a unilateral declaration. That would make them more similar to thugs of an occupier than to public servants.
In particular, shooting the homeless guy with the branch is beyond explanation. What threat did he represent? Who was in danger? No one. Maybe it was to protect the idea that citizens must submit, an idea this poor soul either didn’t accept or understand that is the real reason he had to die.
I think law enforcement personnel should be trained to approach their jobs with the mindset that they are public servants and that they are charged with using good judgement when meeting citizens and resolving confrontations through techniques other than physical or mechanical force; I mean they should be thinking time and talk.

nunchucks are lethal weapons, and wielding them against an officer who is armed with a gun and not complying with the officers orders to drop the weapon, and advancing on said officer, yeah he wrote his own death certificate on that one.

My point on the tank incident, was about the police not knowing if anyone was in those vehicles that were smashed by the tank. The man driving the tank was running down occupied vehicles. That’s intent to kill, wheather the assailant was successfull or not. Fortunately for the police, they got a lucky break. The tank got stuck on a freeway median. They didn’t know how long the tank would be hung up on that median before it gave way and they had no way of stopping the tank again if it got off.

The man with the stick, I really can’t find any justification in that at all. That’s why I didn’t counter your point on that. Homeless old guy who suffered mental illness swinging a stick around. That situation did not have to escalate. At that time, police had many non lethal ranged devices to deploy against someone like that.

Big Eddy was a giant of a kid. He’s larger than the average adult male. He wounded two of the 4 officers, and sustained no injuries himself save for being shocked. I’ve trained in compliance take down, and pressure points, and submission holds. I would personally rather be tazed, than subdued physically. The officers also could have pepper sprayed him, or beaten him with their clubs. Again, I would prefere the tazer be used on me.

we do share a common thought on the carrying of weapons by peace officers. I don’t think that guns should be carried on campus at all. With the advancement of ranged non-lethal submission devices, in most cases, I don’t think that a gun would be appropriate for an officer to carry on the street. If a situation arrises where firearms are needed, we have special weapons teams for that. Call for backup if you need a gun.

You list several examples of police/criminals with bad outcomes, and suggest that all the police are bad. The police are the ones who put themselves out there to uphold the law (in almost all cases) and attempt to protect citizens, even those that criticize them, from criminals and those that “just don’t agree with the law”, so they break it. Maybe I’m at the wrong forum, but I’ve always admired “most” police officers. As I’ve mentioned before, there are of course, bad cops that get a lot of press, but they are far outnumbered by those that go out quietly as a presence to restrain lawbreakers and protect us.

pKat, are you kidding? I related a series of actual deaths caused by law enforcement personnel in San Diego during the time I’ve lived here, and the official declarations as to the justifiability of the actions of those personnel. They did it by the book. I’m not blaming the individuals, though I think each one is worthy. My point is that the book is in need of some serious revision. It should not be permissible for law enforcement personnel to shoot citizens for what amounts to disobedience. In real danger? Sure. Fire away, dude. Or dudette. Dudee? Officer. But please do try to make a thoughtful decision about what constitutes real danger. Nunchucks, okay a tank, but one stopped and without weaponry, one immobile tank, a branch? Tell me why this is okay.

Great reply. I couldn’t agree more with all you have said. I particularly relate to, although a large teenager, at 14-years-old, the fear he must have been feeling was probably overwhelming. Not condoning what he did, but what judgment was he capable of at this age? Would this create warm feelings for law enforcement in the future? If you think cops are bad, try looking at some of the prison guards. One of the supervisors I was having a “discussion” with said “you became a nurse because you are ‘nurturing.” “No, I became a nurse because I had two little kids to take care of, and whatever job I have, I intend to do it the way it is supposed to be done. Don’t call me a bleeding heart.” Having worked in some of these areas, I have seen some grievous lawbreakers that were in no way able to be rehabilitated. On the other hand, I have met others who when attempts were made to “problem solve,” responded positively. This is not always the case, though. I do think, however, with a juvenile at this age that this could be a turning point in gaining rehabilitation if handled properly and the job of rehabilitation should be taken seriously. I guess I am angry when I see police knee jerk reaction without thinking what is the best way to handle a situation. He did not have a weapon did he? He willingly gave over the stolen articles, didn’t he?

Thank G-d for sensible people like you, I have horror stories about how the police treat youth in San Diego. Innocent until prove guilty B.S. to that one, children are abused by the system, have no rights hardly at all and are treated worse than adults are disempowered. Adults whose kids are involved with the juvenile system pay a high price financially and emotionally. Kids can suffer emotionally for months/years after being incarcerated for misdemeanors. A 14 year old prostitute jailed!!!!? Who is the criminal here? Help Please help us from this lunacy??This system must change more harm than good is being done. Kids should not hate the law but the police are big bully boys and take pride in it….

Perhaps children should be taught to comply with police requests to place their hands where they can be seen, and submit to the requests of the Law Officers. I can see where a lot of children get the impression that they can “fight the man”. It’s in all the media, movies, television, comics… it’s also in the attitude of a lot of parents. Don’t teach your kids to fight the cops or to hate the cops. If they’ve done nothing wrong, it will get ironed out. If they have done something wrong, a bad attitude will do nothing but make it worse. This kid could probably have plea bargained his felony grand theft down to a misdemeanor with some community service and a fine. Resisting arrest would make that a lot more difficult. Assaulting a police officer pretty much makes that impossible.
Do you really think that we should allow 14 year olds to be prostitutes? Yes, some are trafficked and forced into it, and that will come out under investigation. Others willfully commit the crime. It is a criminal act, and in the case of willful prostitution, just sticking the kid back in a youth center is going to spread like a cancer. In the case of forced prostitution a child is not going to be held accountable and will be released. It is unfortunate that the arrest has to take place in these situations, but it is a necessary step in sorting out the good from the bad.

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